Marek Janowski

Category: Conductor

Biography

From 2002 until 2015, Marek Janowski was artistic director and chief conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB). Before embarking upon his Berlin period, and also partly parallel to this, he was musical director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (2005-2012), chief conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo (2000-2005), chief conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie (2001-2003), and musical director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (1984-2000).

Born in Warsaw and educated in Germany, Marek Janowski’s artistic path led him from positions in Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg to his appointment as General Music Director in Freiburg im Breisgau (1973-1975) and Dortmund (1975-1979). Since the late 1970s, he has appeared regularly at all the major opera houses world-wide.

Marek Janowski stepped back from the opera scene in the 1990s to concentrate on the great German and French symphonic repertoire. He enjoys an outstanding reputation amongst the premier orchestras of Europe, North America and Asia and is recognised for his ability to create orchestras of international standing.

His leave-taking of the opera, however, was merely an institutional matter, not a musical farewell. Thus he is now recognized as one of the greatest experts regarding the music of Richard Wagner, to which his concertante Wagner cycle with the RSB bears witness. In the sequel he accepted the invitation to conduct Wagner’s “Ring” at the Bayreuth Festival in 2016 and 2017.

In 2014 Marek Janowski was awarded the “Ehrenpreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (= honorary prize of the German Critics’ Award) for his extensive life’s work.